HARRISONBURG, Va. — A 31-year-old Phoenixville man working for a firm hired by the Virginia Republican Party was arrested Thursday after allegedly tossing completed voter registration forms into a Dumpster at a shopping center.

According to a release from the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, Colin Small was working as a voter registration supervisor for Pinpoint, an independent private company contracted by the Republican Party of Virginia “for the purposes of voter registration.”

However, according to reports in the Los Angeles Times, Small had previously worked for Strategic Allied Consulting, a firm owned by Republican operative Nathan Sproul which has been under investigation for voter registration fraud in other states including Florida, Arizona, and Colorado, as well as questions raised about practices in Pennsylvania. His companies have faced charges in past elections of submitting forged forms and of dumping Democratic registrations, according to the Times.

According to an Oct. 4 profile of Sproul in The New York Times, officials at a Pittsburgh library filed complaints that Sproul’s company had set up a voter registration desk outside the building under false pretenses, claiming to represent “America Votes,” a non-partisan organization, only to discover that they represented the Republican Party.

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According to a report by CBS News, Brian Moran, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, called on Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and state authorities to investigate whether the incident involving Small could be tied to a larger effort of voter suppression.

“This individual was an employee of the first firm the Republican Party of Virginia hired to do voter registration before they fired that firm amidst allegations of fraud in other states,” Moran told CBS.

“In order to assure Virginians that this was not part of a larger Republican effort, Attorney General Cuccinelli and state authorities must conduct a thorough investigation into how Virginia Republicans conduct their voter registration and turnout efforts on behalf of George Allen, Mitt Romney and Republicans across the state,” Moran said.

Republican Party of Virginia chairman Pat Mullins issued a statement saying Small’s actions are “a direct contradiction of both his training and explicit instructions given to him.”

“We were alarmed by allegations recently made regarding an individual in Harrisonburg,” he said. “The Republican Party of Virginia will not tolerate any action by any person that could threaten the integrity of our electoral process.”

Mullins said Small was immediately fired.

The investigation began Monday when a store manager in Harrisonburg told police he had spotted a man throwing voter registration forms into a Dumpster behind the shopping center where his store is located.

Small is charged with four counts of destruction of voter registration applications, a misdemeanor; eight counts of disclosure of voter registration application, a felony; and one count of obstruction of justice, a misdemeanor, according to the Rockingham Sheriff’s Office.

According to a report in the online news service, Talking Points Memo: “Virginia does not register voters by political party, so it would be difficult for someone to discard forms from their political opponents. Rockingham County Registrar Doug Geib said that his office was able to process the recovered forms after receiving advice from the Virginia State Board of Elections.”

“There is no indication that this activity was widespread in our jurisdiction; it appears to be very limited in nature but there is the possibility that additional charges may be filed in the future if it is deemed necessary,” Rockingham Sheriff Bryan F. Hutcheson wrote in a statement provided to The Mercury.

“There are no other details that we can release at this time, as this is still an active and ongoing criminal investigation,” he wrote.

He also noted that “these charges are based upon lengthy consultation with and assistance from the Rockingham County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.”

About the Author

Evan Brandt has worked for The Mercury since November 1997. His beat includes Pottstown, the surrounding townships and the Pottstown and Pottsgrove school districts, as well as other varied general topics like politics, the environment and education. Reach the author at ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
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